Cops Corner

May 31
WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART
4:16 p.m. — 1200 block of North Palm Avenue. Suspicion Person. The attendant at a parking garage reported that two men wearing long-sleeved white shirts, black ties and black pants appeared to be gaining access to the storage room in the parking garage. The clothing of the men matched the clothing waiters at an adjacent restaurant wear. The owner of the restaurant told officers that he hired extra waiters for an off-site event during the weekend, and that the waiters likely mistook the garage storage room for the nearby restaurant storage room.

June 2
STORAGE WARS
Noon — 1300 block of Boulevard of the Arts. Petit Theft. A man reported that his friend went to a storage unit and convinced an employee to cut the lock off a bike in the parking lot. The man shares a storage unit with his friend, and the attendant was not sure who owned the bike, but the man said it belonged to him. The man had little information regarding the bike other than the fact that it was pink-and-purple with a white basket. The man said he was unsure if he wanted to press charges, and that he has been friends with the woman in question for 40 years.

SUPREME BEING
5:16 p.m. — 2800 block of Ringling Boulevard. Dispute/Fight. The manager of a pizzeria called officers after a customer called the store demanding free pizza. The manager said that, three days earlier, the same customer came in and asked for another pizza because his pizza tasted strange. At first, the manager said that he couldn’t give the customer another pizza without a receipt, but eventually gave him a new pizza because the customer was getting upset. On Monday, the customer called the store and said he wanted a free pizza or else he would beat up the manager. The customer came to the store and apologized prior to police arriving.

LEFT HANGING
7 p.m. — 0 block of North Boulevard of the Presidents. Suspicion General/Unknown. A patron at a hammock shop reported a suspicious incident. The shopper had waited at the store with his family for 45 minutes, and no employee had appeared. The front door of the store was wide open, and about seven people were walking through the shop. Officers found no signs of foul play and were unable to successfully contact the business owner. The neighboring businesses said they didn’t know the employees or owner of the store, but that they didn’t notice anything suspicious. Eventually, an officer was able to get in contact with the owner, who instructed officers to lock up the store until an employee arrived. Later that night, the employee scheduled to work during the time of the incident said he accidentally left the front door open after getting sidetracked by some deliveries that day. Employees reported there appeared to be no theft of store property while it was left unoccupied.